In the past few days, Bitcoin (BTC) has oscillated between $100,000 – $102,000 following multiple failed attempts to push into higher price zones.
Despite breaching the $100,000 price mark earlier in December, the premier cryptocurrency has seen its bullish momentum in Q4 slow down, rising by only slightly over 4% so far in this final month of 2024. Amidst this stalled price growth, recent data on Bitcoin miners’ transactions may indicate additional concerns for investors.
Bitcoin Miners’ Holdings Drop To 1.95 Million BTC
According to renowned crypto expert Ali Martinez, Bitcoin miners have recently shed significant amounts of their holdings. Based on data from Santiment, these miners have sold over 140,000 BTC, valued at $13.72 billion, so far in December, reducing their supply held from around 2.08 million BTC to 1.95 million BTC.
Generally, a massive decline in Bitcoin miners’ holdings can be indicative of a potential weakness in BTC’s price. Moreover, it can produce a downward pressure on the asset’s price especially if the newly released supply surpasses market demand.
Furthermore, while Bitcoin miners can simply liquidate their holdings to cover operational costs, larger market sales such as this reported by Martinez might suggest financial constraints and potential miner capitulation which occurs alongside an extended bear market.
So far, BTC’s price has yet to show any significant reaction to this drop in miner holdings with the asset having only experienced only brief price pullbacks, following a flash price crash and rejections at the 102,000 price region.
BTC Heading For $176,000 Target?
In other news, market analyst with X username Egrag Crypto has backed his prediction for Bitcoin to hit $176,000 in this current bull cycle. Using the Fibonacci levels to identify potential support and resistance levels, Egrag Crypto has previously rolled out this price forecast prior to Bitcoin’s price rally in November.
With the maiden cryptocurrency now at $101,000, the analyst predicts BTC is set to hit its first price target at $105,000 opening the floor for a price surge to $130,000. Thereafter, Bitcoin is expected to rise to $176,000 which may form the local peak for this bull cycle. Interestingly, Egrag has also forecasted the next bear market target indicating BTC could fall between $33,000 – $44,600, at the end of this bull cycle.
At the time of writing, BTC trades at $101,870 reflecting a 1.56% gain in the last seven days. Meanwhile, the asset’s trading volume is down by 36.10% and valued at $37.44 billion.
Featured image from Bloomberg News, chart from Tradingview